Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

picture."wretchedness."with."have failed dismally, tragically failed in the art ofliving. I think ofGoethe, Harriet Martinean, GeorgeElliott and Thomas Carlyle, masters in the art ofliterature. George Elliott has written some fineworks but her life lived with another woman's husband was most unworthy. Let us confine our thoughtin this vein to Thomas Carlyle alone. Here is whatone of his most friendly biographers has written ofhim. "His life was one long snarl of circumstancesand people. His mouth was full of cursing; his arrogance, pride and intellectual tyranny were simply indescribable. His married life from beginning to endwas a terrible study in black, he being the wretchedartist, altogether responsible for the. . ."If ever the elements of a truly grand life were inany man they were in Carlyle. He ended his life ofintolerance, selfishness, bitterness with a loveless,hopeless old age; his closing days were full of unspeakable remorse andRobertBrowning has said that "the acknowledgement ofGod in Christ accepted by the reason solves for theeall questions in the world and out of it." Carlyle believed in Nature, in Providence, in God, but he didnot believe in Jesus Christ. Instead of God in Christhe worshipped the "Eternal Unnameable," "the Infinities,"whatever they are. Thomas Carlyleachieved great dividends in the art of writing, but inthe art of living he was bankrupt. He did not knowor follow Him who said "I am come that ye mighthave life, and that you might have it more abundantly."We have tried to inspire you to be tireless workers in the particular field or art in which you willspend your life and at Geneva we believe we havehad signal success in that respect. At least the records ofmany of our graduates attest to that belief,but if we have done only that we have failed. Wewant above all else that you shall achieve great dividends in the art of living.The Guarantee of Successful LivingWe sang at your class day exercises this morning in chapel, "Her true sons are jewels," and youwill sing that at the closing of your commencement.What is it that makes Geneva's sons and daughters"jewels"? I would center that answer around fourand loyalty.words, integrity, purity, unselfishness,Integrity. What does that mean? It meanssoundness of character. It means you can tap thatlife any time, anywhere, under any temptation andit will ring true. You will find no crack in the bell.It means that life can stand the searchlight of God'seye as the flawless steel stands the test of the electriceye.I believe that there are two fundamental qualities in a life of integrity honesty and truthfulness.How necessary it is that we possess those two qualities for there is so muchdishonesty in business, ingovernment and even in institutions of learning. Notlong ago a congressman was tried and convicted ofdishonesty. While America's sons and daughterswere giving their lives for their country, this congressman by crooked methods was making profit outof our struggle. Only this week the newspapers allover the country carried the news of one of our greatuniversities put on probation because of dishonestpractices in the recruiting of athletes. We want youto be honest in all your transactions.November 30, 1955Truthfulness. Just recently one of our citizenshas been imprisonsd for perjury. He has confessedto lying before a judicial committee and now is writing a book telling of his lying and why. In fact he haslied so much that few will believe anything he writesor statements he may make under oath.We want our government officials to tell us thetruth. They need not tell us everything, especially ina time like ours, but they need not lie to us. Wewant our merchants to tell us the truth about thegoods they sell to us. We want our physicians to tellus the truth about our physical condition. Some yearsago, a neighbor of mine, a young mother, contracteda fatal disease. Her physician knew it, but he wouldnot tell her. Her husband dared not for he, becauseof his sin, was the cause of her fatal condition. I wasasked to tell the young mother that from all indications she could not live. I did so as tactfully and asgently as I could. I shall never forget the cry of anguish that came from that young mother's heartwhen she grasped the reality of her condition. Thenshe became calm, thanked me for telling her thetruth, and requested I pray for her. I believe that itwas because she was not deceived or ever left in ignorance but was told the truth that she, clothed inChrist's righteousness, entered into that other worldwhere there is no sin, no pain, no sorrow, no heartache. Sons and daughters of Geneva, whatever thetrial ordifficulty involved, have the courage to tellthe truth. If you are honest and truthful you will livea life of integrity.Purity is another characteristic that makes onea jewel. One of the greatest blights of this world isimpurity. The great weakness of America is impurity. The chief cause of these awful crimes that attimes make headlines in our newspapers is impurity.The basic reason for the unprecedented number of divorces in our land is impurity. It is also the chief reason for suicide among our young people, and especially among young women. Too late they find that theyhave sold their birthright of chastity for a mess ofpottage. Geneva expects her sons and daughters to bechaste in speech and pure in life. Would that eachone of them had the fortitude of a Joseph who farfrom home, a slave in a pagan court, under greattemptation could say, "How can I do this greatGod?"wrong and sin againstUnselfishness. Two fellow students graduatedwith me from Syracuse University fifty years agothis June. One was a member of the football squadand the other a member of the track team. The football player wasn't much of an athlete. He thought hewas. He was very vocative in telling the other players how to play the line, until one day our big huskypowerful coach took him in hand personally and individually taught him how little he knew aboutcharging and blocking. After that personal combathe wasn't so vocative about his own abilities. Oneday the Y.M.C.A. secretary said to me about him,"He is the most selfish student I have ever had todeal This secretary doled out the jobs aroundthe campus. He said this chap always wanted theeasiest job and that paid the most money. Fifteenyears later I was spending a vacation at Ocean Groveon the Atlantic coast. Two friends of mine who werealso there told me that there was a preacher rooming in the same place as they were who the womanwho ran the tourist home said was the most selfish357